# Pixel Gallery vs Piktures

Canonical: https://pixel-gallery.app/android/compare/piktures

Last updated: November 9, 2026

**Verdict:** Pick Piktures if you want cloud, NAS and USB photos in one gallery. Pick Pixel Gallery if you want face grouping and search by content on the phone, with no ads in the free version.

Piktures is a gallery for your phone, SD card, USB drives, clouds and NAS, with cleanup and editing. Pixel Gallery focuses on the phone, with on-device AI.

## Feature comparison

| Capability | Pixel Gallery | Piktures |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Photos stay on the phone | Yes (Pixel Gallery never uploads your photos or videos.) | Partly (No Piktures cloud; Premium/Prime can auto-back up phone albums to your own clouds or network drives) |
| Works without an account | Yes | Yes (No Piktures account; plans are bought through Google Play) |
| On-device smart search | Yes (SigLIP2 model, ~375 MB optional download.) | No (Search covers file and folder names, places, dates, camera models and tags; no content search documented) |
| Face grouping | Yes (Runs on the phone.) | No (Not documented in the help center) |
| Duplicate and similar cleanup | Yes | Yes (Smart Cleanup on the phone; duplicates, similar and best-shot need Premium or Prime) |
| Encrypted metadata database | Yes | Not documented |
| No ads | Yes | No (Free Basic plan shows Google ads; any paid plan removes them) |
| No subscription | Yes (Free, plus an optional one-time Premium purchase.) | Partly (One-time No ads or Premium unlock, or an optional Prime monthly subscription with the same features.) |
| Cloud backup | No (Pixel Gallery has no cloud. Backup is up to you.) | Yes (Automatic backup to your own clouds or network drives with Premium or Prime) |
| Open source | No | No (Help center states Piktures is not open source) |
| Cloud and NAS access (Drive, OneDrive, Nextcloud, SMB) | No | Yes (First remote free, more with a paid plan.) |
| USB drive access | No | Yes (Paid plan.) |
| Private space for hidden media | Partly (Blurs items behind a biometric lock; files are not encrypted.) | Partly (Secret Space hides items; it is light protection, not encryption.) |
| Photo and video editor | Yes | Yes |
| Collages | Yes (Grid collage with Premium.) | Yes |

## Is Pixel Gallery a good Piktures alternative?

For a phone-centric library, yes. Piktures is excellent at reaching photos wherever they are: SD cards, USB drives, Google Drive, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV and SMB. Pixel Gallery stays on the phone and goes deep: face grouping, semantic search and text recognition, computed on the device.

## What does Piktures do better?

- **Every source in one place.** Clouds, NAS and USB drives next to local photos.
- **Backup to your own storage.** Automatic backup to your clouds or network drives with a paid plan.
- **A detailed help center.** Clear, dated documentation and principles.

## What does Pixel Gallery do better?

- **On-device AI.** People, search by what a photo shows, captions on supported devices.
- **No ads in the free version.** Analytics stay off until you consent.
- **Cleanup included.** Piktures needs a paid plan for duplicate and similar cleanup.
- **An encrypted index.** The metadata database is encrypted on the phone.

## Who should pick which?

Pick Piktures if your photos are spread across clouds and drives. Pick Pixel Gallery if your library lives on the phone and you want it searchable by content and people.

## How to switch from Piktures

Install Pixel Gallery and allow photo access. Items in Piktures Secret Space need to be moved out first to be indexed.

## Questions

**Is Piktures free?**
The Basic plan is free with ads. A one-time No ads or Premium purchase, or an optional Prime subscription, unlocks more. Pixel Gallery has no ads in its free version.

**Does Piktures have face recognition?**
Face grouping is not documented for Piktures. Pixel Gallery groups faces on the phone.

**What is the best Android gallery with NAS support?**
Piktures is strong there. Pixel Gallery does not open NAS or cloud folders; it focuses on photos stored on the phone.

## Sources

- [Piktures on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.diune.pictures), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Piktures official site and FAQ](https://piktures.app/), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Piktures help: In-app purchases](https://piktures.app/help/paid-features/iap), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Piktures help: Our product principles](https://piktures.app/help/our-principles/product-principles), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Piktures help: Smart Cleanup](https://piktures.app/help/create/smart-cleanup), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Piktures help: Search and filters](https://piktures.app/help/searching/search-and-filters), accessed November 8, 2026